Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren – All the latest professional wrestling news, gossip and occasional opinion direct to your mailbox.
WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from all around the world.

WWE are on the road this weekend with Raw tonight in Jackson, TN, Saturday in Birmingham, AL, and Sunday in Chattanooga. Smackdown runs Saturday in Augusta, and Sunday in Florence, SC. We’re looking for reader reports from all these shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.

Raw is live Monday from Knoxville while SD/ECW tapes Tuesday in Greenville.

Smackdown TV tonight has Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison; The Hart Dynasty vs. Matt Hardy & Great Khali vs. Cryme Tyme vs. CM Punk & Luke Gallows in a four-way for a tag title shot at DX; Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler in a re-match from last week; Mickie James vs. Beth Phoenix; and Batista vs. Rey Mysterio in a cage match with the winner facing The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble.

***

The Sun at www.the-sun.co.uk/wrestling has a story on Maria Kanellis and Kelly Kelly who are in the UK promoting the Royal Rumble. They were both guests last night on Sky Sports News. Maria noted that she wants to start a family one day but knows that’s not possible while working for WWE so was working on projects for life after wrestling. She said: “I just got announced as one of the cast members for the US version of Celebrity Apprentice and I’m also [doing] an album coming out in April.
So I’m starting to do other things and it’s partially because one day I want to be a mom and I want to get married and you can’t really do that when you’re on the road. So I’ve got to find a job that will allow me to do that.” Kelly put over John Cena and said she wants to work for WWE as long as she can. Smart girl.

John Cena reportedly has a back injury which likely explains why he’s not wrestling Sheamus for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble. We have heard from a reliable source that Cena also has lingering neck issues stemming from his 2008 surgery to fuse a herniated disc.

Fans who purchased Hall of Fame tickets at LiveNation.com had them canceled after a miscommunication meant that some of WWE’s reserved seating [you know, where the wrestlers sit] were sold to regular Joes in error. Many unhappy fans who thought they had great floor seats had to re-order them yesterday and are now seated in the nose-bleed section. We also had an email from a reader who was told that anyone with a bank card registered outside of North America cannot purchase tickets because their booking system won’t allow it. Sounds like a shitty system to me.
The reader said they had complained to WWE but have not yet recevied a response.

Fit Finlay was in Tampa yesterday training developmental Divas with FCW.
Look for some fresh faces to be called up soon.

Linda McMahon is trailing potential Democratic Senatorial candidate Richard Blumenthal 64 percent to 23 percent of potential voters, according to a new poll by Quinnipiac University. The poll was based on 1,430 registered voters in Connecticut… Linda is ripped again by the Rob Simmons campaign at http://tinyurl.com/yzkulee.

The Myrtle Beach Sun News at http://tinyurl.com/y9prwv9 has a story on Big Show, R-Truth and the Bella Twins in town taping an episode of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

WWE is returning to the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO, for the first time since the “Denver Debacle” with a Raw house show on Friday, March 12th.
If you dare, tickets go on sale January 30.

1/15 house show results from Johnstown, PA: Shark Boy over Homicide;
Rhino over Jay Lethal; Hamada & Awesome Kong over Madison Rayne & Velvet
Sky; Abyss over Dr. Stevie with Jeff Jarrett as special referee and Mick
Foley as guest ring announcer; Beer Money over The British Invasion; and
AJ Styles over Daniels.

Sunday is the Genesis pay-per-view from Orlando where they hit the
re-set button. They just announced the complete line up: AJ Styles vs.
Kurt Angle for the TNA heavyweight title; Beer Money vs. Scott Hall and
Kevin Nash; Abyss vs. Bobby Lashley; The British Invasion vs. Matt
Morgan & Hernandez for the tag titles; ODB vs. Tara in a best of three
falls match for the Knockouts title; Amazing Red vs. TNA on Sunday night
for the X-title; and Desmond Wolfe vs. Pope D’Angelo Dinero. The stip on
the Styles-Angle match is if Kurt loses he can’t have another title shot
until 2011 unless Styles drops the title to someone else. Hulk Hogan
also makes his TNA PPV debut with a big name surprise.

***

Awesome Kong and a bunch of TNA wrestlers are getting together to raise
funds to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. DJ Seth Gold is
hosting a charity event tonight at the Midtown tavern in Harrisburg, PA,
with wrestlers getting up to all kinds of shenanigans. The Beautiful
People have promised to cat crawl along the bar if they raise over
$1000. Plus, Mick Foley has agreed to match whatever funds are raised,
up to $2,500. Those that can’t attend can send a pledge via PayPal toWrestlers4Haiti@gmail.com.

Dixie Carter noted on her Twitter that she was in Los Angeles for the TV
Critics Conference. She said she had dinner last night with Hulk Hogan
and Kevin Kay of Spike TV. “Very exciting talks,” she Tweeted. “Stay
tuned”.

Bobby Lashley is currently without a Strikeforce opponent on January 30
after the Florida Athletic Commission ruled his potential match with
Yohan Banks was not competitive. Jimmy Ambriz is being targeted by the
promotion as a late replacement for Banks, and the matchup is pending
commission approval. Ambriz is 13-12-1 and lost his last three fights.

Alex Marvez interviewed Eric Bischoff at http://tinyurl.com/ya3oh9m.
Bischoff said he’s more creative than Vince McMahon but admitted Vince
was more successful: “I have a tremendous respect for Vince and, in a
perverse way, like him… But at the end of the day, I think I’m better
than him. I’m more creative than him and have a better feel for the
business. It’s just that he happens to be a lot more successful than I
am.”

Vince Russo posted a message to “dirt-sheet writers” like me last night
on his Facebook page. It was basically a thank you note for bringing
attention to his page, which promotes his upcoming book. Well, your very
welcome Vince. However, nothing constructive can come of what you write.
You are lashing out at the media for no reason. Most media actually
enjoyed the show last week. It’s just a negative environment in which
creativity is stifled.

TNA’s latest Spin Cycle at http://tinyurl.com/y9wbdz2 has Desmond Wolfe,
The Pope, Chris Sabin, and Lacey Von Erich. Apparently they had to edit
this show at different points due to Lacey’s potty mouth.

New dates have been added to Mick Foley’s comedy tour with Colt Cabana
and Brother Love. Upcoming gigs include Baltimore, Las Vegas, and
Manchester, NH. More info at www.totalextremecomedy.com.

OTHER WRESTLING NEWS

UFC President Dana White told Dave Meltzer that MMA website reports
claiming that UFC was holding a press conference next week in Las Vegas
to discuss Brock Lesnar’s health status are untrue and that no such
conference is scheduled. Meanwhile, Lesnar’s trainer, Greg Nelson, told
ESPN show MMA Live that Lesnar is definitely returning to UFC.

Sad to report that Bob Shamrock, adopted father of Ken and Frank, passed
away on Thursday due to complications from Diabetes. He was 68 and had
reportedly been in poor health for some time.

Former WWE wrestler Mark Copani aka Muhammad Hassan makes his first
wrestling-related appearance since leaving the company several years ago
this April at the KandSWrestlefest in Carteret, NJ. Other names
advertised: Mae Young, Steve Lombardi, Harvey Wippleman, Tony Mamaluke,
Shark Boy, Dutch Mantel, and Hamada. More info atwww.kandswrestlefest.com.

There is a wrestling bio marathon on The Biography Channel on Sunday
with features on Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, plus The
Unreal Story of Pro Wrestling that was released on VHS [remember those
things?] in 1988.

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